Hello, mae govannen, elen síla lumenn' omentielvo.
You've found your way to the LJ of Elleth, proud Tolkien nut. Private content is non-public, fannish things vary, but my profile page will give you an idea of what to find here, and this journal's friending policy is simple: if you think it sounds interesting, add me, and I'll gladly add you back, though a quick introduction would be nice.
This LJ is now mostly a crossposting repository for content on elleth's Dreamwidth, but friending and commenting are welcome in either place.
... I can finally post a list of the gift fics I received! It's been another season to prove how talented this fandom is, because every single one of these stories is spectacularly beautiful and heartfelt, and I want every single one of them to be showered in love, appreciation and reviews. Even if you don't usually read femslash - please give them a chance anyway? Reading comments from the people who already did that was almost as wonderful as the stories themselves are.
high tide came and brought you in by astris_eldalie Summary: She dreamt that she spun under starlight, and woke to the sunrise, red and orange across the dead branches of the trees above her. For a moment, she lay where she was, amid the brown leaves, watching the familiar play of light across unfamiliar forest. (Arwen/Tauriel, SFW)
Like a Shooting Star, Leaping Skywards by keiliss Sensing danger, Galadriel has sent a former friend to guide Meril and her young son Gil-galad down the coast from Eglarest to Balar. (Meril/OFC, SFW)
*gasp!* An entry that isn't a dear-author letter for some fic exchange or other!
The reason those have been pretty much nonexistent for quite a while is that my life is Boring with a capital b and italics, tumblr is a horrific distraction, and the idiotic feud with my aunt and her smoking habits (which tend to end up directly in my room whenever I open the window) has (if nothing else) given me ample reason to vent various frustrations IRL so there isn't even a lot to whine about. I've also been writing a lot (for my standards) - approaching 100,000 words this year, and I'm beginning to feel vaguely hopeful to actually get my 150,000-word goal for inkingitout at the end of the year. A lot of the words are due to abovementioned fic exchanges, but recently I also started feeling vaguely unhappy not writing "for myself" (as-in, tailored to a recipient's expectations rather than something completely self-indulgent - I guess you could call it minor exchange burnout - which won't stop me from signing up for more), so did a few of those as well - still gift-fics, but fairly nonspecific in their demands and with no element of the accountability that exchanges require, and it's brought back a lot of writerly joy.
Right now I'm procrasting quite hard, because I should be working on an exchange fic due in two weeks but actually want to work on a new chapter of my palaeolithic Vanyarin femslash plus mammoth-hunting extravaganza, and as a result am doing neither. Instead, how about that writing meme that's been going around?
In honour of finishing the two exchange fics for Rare Women due today (and now waiting for reveals to happen), I'll indulge in that meme that's been going around - though it's the last 11 first lines rather than the last 21, because I'm about the opposite of prolific.
More like excited squeaking. I'm starting to understand the kind of stress that comes with organizing fannish events (though it probably doesn't compare to something like B2MeM) because I helped organize one, and I'm really, really excited.
Backstory department: A while ago the tumblr-based part of the Silm fandom started on an "appreciation week" craze, paradoxically enough appreciating mostly the characters who are fan favourites anyway, and dropping less-explored characters out of the spotlight (which in itself may be a sort of extension of the tumblr fannish hivemind, I suppose, often pushing for sameness in interpretations rather than diversity, which is giving me a case of the grumps anyway), so ludovica and I decided to be creatively contrary and focus on the characters who get swept under the rug anyway, and for more than a week, too. So Legendarium Ladies April was born, and now that we're getting closer to the starting point I'm pretty much buzzing around like a bumblebee.
Prompts are all organized and just need posting on the respective days, the reception of our promo posts has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive, two BNFs heard about the event and did promos of their own so now there are far more followers than I ever expected there would be (the fandom overwhelmingly seems like a swimming pool full of noodle soup and I've gotten a little jaded in that respect) someone made bingo cards, people have even been asking if it was okay to post femslash, and -- I'm just about ready to explode in that cloud of squee and glitter.
Of course it also means I've fallen behind on reading and reviewing for B2MeM, but now that most everything is settled, I'll try to get back into that this afternoon.
... is a funny term to a German speaker, because (at least as far as my familiarity with English goes) it implies exactly the opposite of the German term (Frühjahrsmüdigkeit, literally Spring Tiredness or Spring Fatigue), and it's the latter that seems to be hitting me currently. I can't stop yawning and it's impossible to drink enough tea to actually feel awake, and I'm just a mite more irritable than I'd like to be. Not at anybody reading this, but there have been little things on tumblr I'd otherwise laugh away that made me want to yell from the rooftops how idiotic they are.
On the upside, the weather has been glorious for the last few days and is supposed to remain the same until the weekend; cloudless blue skies and nature bursting into life. There are snowdrops, the first crocuses and willow catkins, and the sparrows on the garage roof woke me up before sunrise twice now, once in concert with Laurelin, who was making excited-squirrel-noises loud enough to wake the dead. It's still been fairly cool here on the coast (thanks a lot, North Sea, always doing the opposite of what's wanted in the respective season), but despite the fatigue it's been glorious to see more of the sun. For some reason this past winter seems particularly bleak in retrospect.
In terms of fannish matters - I'm 1,300 words into my second B2MeM fic and a week late with that already (although tremendously enjoying the worldbuilding - two things: Hwenti Avari with bonus femslash), still haven't managed to dredge up the courage to participate in the Silm reread (or at least not publicly; the reading itself I've done) despite lovely assurance to the contrary that made me blush and cover my face and then fail to answer because the words wouldn't come.
Also signed up for the Rare Ship Swap, the Rare Women Exchange (and very happy with both assignments!) and planning to play in remixers_lounge if enough people are interested in the Silmarillion. Zeen put up a comment thread here, so if you're interested in playing and eligible (5x500 or 7x100 word stories minimum), please drop by and leave your support? And then there's not_primetime, though nominations don't begin for a while there.
I haven't continued with the Textual Ghosts counting yet, though my first B2MeM fic features three of them in one fell swoop (and to entirely unexpected positive response - still happily boggling at those), and I'm planning to have the list finished before April for an event currently in the planning stage.
Wow... this feels much more wordy and navel-gaze-y than usual, so I'd best channel the words into something creative. (Wasn't I saying... I felt... tired? Apparently writing journal entries is a good curative measure. Huh.)
In your own space, talk about setting yourself a fannish goal. Big or small, it doesn't matter. Some great examples include: complete a bingo, sign-up for a Big Bang, write that fic you've been thinking about for years, podfic that story that you love, make a fanmix for your fandom, post that bit of meta or reclist you keep postponing. Maybe resolve to be better at leaving feedback, or answering comments.
* I'll be stealing this one from Indy - get better at leaving comments and reviews. I read a lot, and comment very little for a number of reasons - either not having anything worthwhile to say (or feeling like I don't, even when "I liked this" is usually still welcome), saying something "wrong", coming across as stupid and/or repetitive, being unwelcome, or, if none of my insecurity issues hit, being just plain lazy or distracted. I have left 98 comments on my home archive in almost seven year, and that is a disgrace. So, because goals or pledges work better for me with definite statements, I'm going to double that amount on SWG this year, and try to carry it over to AO3 (I don't think they offer having-reviewed stats, so can't say anything for certain there except that's likewise been too little).
* I mentioned this in yesterday's post - get my longfics polished and posted.
* Make my inkingitout goal of writing 150,000 words this year. There are plenty of exchanges and events that I was comfortable playing in last year finally (it's been a milestone for me in terms of putting myself out there fannishly, finally, even though I'm still too shy to tackle Yuletide - all the BNFs play there, and that's writing I can neither hope to match nor deserve to receive) so that may just work out!
I was busy writing for fandom_stocking, so missed the last few days, and right now my mood is odd and vaccillating somewhere between some sort of directionless anger and wanting to cry, so distraction by way of positivity may be a good idea.
In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.
This is difficult for me, because with rare exceptions my fanworks... exist, and most of the time I enjoy creating them, but it's probably thanks to my relative lack of confidence (regardless of resultant quality of the fanwork or lack of it) that I try to not to make them terribly meaningful to myself so I don't set myself up for disappointment. Which is just how I go about these things, not something that needs remarking on, but at any rate it probably means I need to put myself out there more: I'm still reluctant to put anything of mine on AO3 because that guarantees more and different views from SWG as a relatively small and insular archive. So it may be a good exercise to make myself do.
Occasionally tumblr does a useful thing in introducing something that is actually not quite as much of a waste of time as pretty pictures and all the common nonsense are.
Today it's a thing called realtimeboard, essentially an online-based whiteboard that offers all sorts of templates and knicknacks, the possibility to add files from external sources, share everything, save and modify it... I'm liking it a lot to continue planning my Bigbang fic, and guess I'll also use it to continue editing Book I of The Darkest Season once I'm done with the various fic exchange stories that still need writing/finishing.
Worth a look, I'd say, especially for things like NaNo or any project that needs a lot of planning. ^^
The tome_awards/MEFA Reboot project needs help finding a new name for the awards - please take a moment to head here and vote for your three favourite options. Thank you.
I only post to LJ very rarely these days, though will still be around to read and reply here. You can find the original entry over at Dreamwidth-upon-Túna. Nai elyë hiruva!
Following the ratings discussion that got very heated very quickly and made big waves on the MEFA mailing list, the admins eventually admitted that they were tired of running the awards and closed down, not least because some dumbfucks allegedly levelled anonymous attacks on them. Read Marta's explanation and the cancellation notice.
I didn't agree with the new ratings policy, no. I wouldn't have competed in the 2012 awards. But all the same I'm sad that this was the end it came to (especially about the anonymous attacks, which made me feel sick just hearing about), rather than finding a more peaceful solution and perhaps the agreement to let others carry the torch. But it's over.
Time for a trip down memory lane.
I'm grateful for all the admins have done. Participating was great fun since I first stumbled into the awards in 2008 when dawn_felagund and rhapsody11 nominated two of my ficlets (and I debated endlessly about self-nominating one fic I really liked) and was amazed when others (authors I admire with a kind of starry-eyed fangirlishness! imagine that!) continued that tradition through the next years. I'm now left with 15 stories that ran, and out of these four Honorable Mentions, one Third Place, three Second Places, and one First Place in their respective subcategories. Of course it was bitter sometimes when stories did not place, or did not place as well as I had hoped, but those are my own insecurities and never were the fault of the awards. Serving on the banners team for three years, likewise was fun - even the year using Picasa!
Seeing the interest of fandom in the works of others, the effort they invested in showing others their appreciation, and the general climate of friendly competition definitely were valuable experiences every year. And to have that soured, partly by my own fault, is a sad thing.
However, a group of people are working on another awards program for the Tolkien fandom to continue this positive experience with inclusive policies and open discussion. The new awards have no name yet (going by the tentative title of MEFA Rebooted, subject to change) and right now are being worked on. We are still looking for volunteers, especially from the Lord of the Rings side of fandom (right now it is a little skewed toward the Silmarillion part), but everyone and anyone is welcome to volunteer, or even just spread the word. It would be lovely to see you over there!
I only post to LJ very rarely these days, though will still be around to read and reply here. You can find the original entry over at Dreamwidth-upon-Túna. Nai elyë hiruva!
Compiled from various sources all over circles and communities.
For once crossposting to LJ, if LJ permits. Whichever platform you prefer, feel free to link to this, no permission from me necessary. If I have linked to your post and you'd like to have the link removed, let me know, and I'll do that. If you have any posts of your own (or know of others that may be linked to) feel free to leave a comment, and I will add it to the compilation.
As most of you know, LiveJournal has been the victim of repeated, large-scale DDoS attacks over the last two weeks. These attacks are against multiple journals worldwide, several of which are political in nature. LiveJournal believes strongly in the ideal of freedom of expression, and we're working very hard to ensure that users around the world have a place where their voices can be heard. (emphasis mine)
Time discusses the backgrounds and has an in-depth look at possible reasons.
The BBC talks about Medvedev denouncing the cyber-attacks.
eglantiere has a write-up about Alexey Navalny and his online work against corruption.
*** Possibly more to be added. Also, if anybody would like an invite code to Dreamwidth, either let me know (I have several to share) or snatch one from dw_codesharing.
I will still be around to read and reply here, but the recent pact of LJ and Morgoth drove me to take the Straight Road. This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth-upon-Túna. Nai elyë hiruva!
help_haiti - to help in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake that struck Haiti, heidi8 set up a fandom auction community. Offer up fic, art, music, anything fannish (or anything original) and raise money that the bidders donate directly to charity.
the_second_age is a brand new Tolkien-based RPG set in Eregion, at the time when the Gwaith-i-Mírdain were at the zenith of their power and inhabited a thriving kingdom, one of the last realms of the High Elves east of the Sea, which was eventually ruled by the ring-maker Celebrimbor, last descendant of Fëanor.
We hope to chart the rise and fall of the Mírdain, their work with Sauron in fair form leading up to the creation of the Rings of Power, and the various interconnected relationships, friendships and enmities both, between the Noldor of Eregion and the other Elven, Dwarven and Mortal kingdoms of the time.
Honestly, I am getting a little tired of this. Or maybe just generally tired, looking at the time I went to bed last night. I don't know. I'd like to post ideas about a prospective term paper I have that I won't, for once, cram on top of the usual end-of-semester (because it's going to be about Tolkien, provided it gets OKed), gush about the lecture on 20th century English poetry (though looking at the flist I'd mostly be preaching to the converted), and maybe squee a little that it still feels like early summer and that I so far managed to avoid The Person I'd Rather Not Meet (from here on in, PIRNM). But AmazonFail is still happening, and like I promised, another roundup of links just gathered. Will be ETA'd this evening after class, and maybe I'll get a boring regular post in then as well. So for now, just a list of links without much commentary. Maybe it will prove useful for some people.
And some German news as well: Focus, Blu.fm, Die Presse, Shortnews, Krimiblog remains doubtful. Most of these aren't so up to date (and for that matter, some of the above aren't), but I decided to include them for completeness' sake.
My first roundup post is HERE, the latest HERE; I was been updating it from about 10am GMT+1 until 6 or 7 in the evening. Obviously stuff hasn't stopped happening in the meantime, so here is an attempt at another roundup. Apparently there is a large number of news reports and Google blog search gets you about 6,000 hits, so don't expect anything comprehensive (especially as I'll be going back to Uni tomorrow and need some sleep before that). On the other hand the need for sleep never stopped me from RPing. Hm. Anyway. Onward.
Amazon has, in the meantime, issued another statement, calling the situation 'embarrassing ham-fisted' and pointing out that not only GLBT titles have been affected. They also mention they are working on making this error less likely in the future, but so far no word of information:
So we basically have these explanations: a new 'adult' content policy -> a 'glitch' -> taggings being tweaked -> a non-apology -> a coder screwup and perhaps trolling/hacking.
And with that I'm going to bed, it's past 2 am. Sporadic updates will hopefully be happening tomorrow, when/if I get a chance to hop online in between classes.
Amazon users are trying to re-increase visibility of the AmazonRanked books, and tagging them with AmazonFail; at the time of typing this, 885 titles have been tagged.
ETA II:
Craig Seymour, who experienced the same problem in February.
Contact data of Amazon's CEO: Jeffrey Bezos, 1200 12th Avenue South, Seattle, Washington 98144-2734, Phone: 206-266-1000 Fax: 206-622-2405
Fax for Amazon's legal Department: 206-266-7010 Amazon on twitter Amazon's CTO on twitter: @werner
Amazon's Board of Directors: Thomas O. Ryder (914) 244-5782 William Gordon (650) 233-2750 Myrtle Potter (650) 225-1000 Alain Monie (206) 266-1000 L. John Doerr (650) 233-2750 Tom Alberg (206) 674-3000 Patricia Stonesifer (206) 709-3140
blah
loved
bouncy
awake
disgusted